Yankee Swap is a Christmas Eve Tradition

Christmas Eve was a wonderful time at my daughter Kate and partner Jon’s house in Northfield.

Part of this was seeing how happy Kate and the kids were in the big new house, and how well we all fit, 22 people, before and during the big dinner.

The house is so big that even with a giant crowd, we all easily fit, and it was fun retiring to their family room for our annual game of Yankee Swap. Their two living rooms made for a perfect party venue. Do you play this game on Christmas too?

I was happy to catch up with Catherine Stryker and her daughter Star, who had missed a few of these occasions.  Also there were other friends of Kates that I was glad to visit with, as well as my cousin Steve and his daughter Sarah and husband Ian.  These New Yorkers are always interesting and like in previous years, I got to hear about how Ian’s phone app promotions business is faring…very well, it sounds.

I was the only person who might be described as over dressed, with a tie and a jacket, but I thought that some times of the year that is still called for.  Nobody else did that, but I didn’t feel weird.

I was glad to stay at the party for a while, in previous years there has been a quick rush to the exits, but many of us hung around and enjoyed socializing until it was about 11:15, which is always  a good sign.